Charges filed in Tulsa's serial rape case

Tulsa's serial rape suspect speaks out and only to the News on 6. <br/><br/>Gary Graham speaks out because he says he wants people to hear his side of the story, after a week of hearing from Tulsa

Sunday, February 26th 2006, 6:26 pm

By: News On 6

Tulsa's serial rape suspect speaks out and only to the News on 6.

Gary Graham speaks out because he says he wants people to hear his side of the story, after a week of hearing from Tulsa Police. He wanted to talk exclusively with News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright.

Gary Graham did not confess, he did not apologize, but he did strongly deny that he's Tulsa's serial rapist. I asked him about the DNA, the fingerprints, even the child porn police say they found on his computer; he had an answer for all of it.

36-year-old Gary Graham has been in the Tulsa County jail for a week with nothing to do but read and think. He says after the media coverage police were getting about this case, he wanted people to hear his side of the story. "I didn't do this. I don't look like the guy. I wouldn't do this. I have two kids of my own. I would kill somebody if they touched either of my kids."

What about the DNA found at eight sexual assault scenes that the police lab says matches his DNA? He says it's a police set-up. "How do you take a swab Monday night and get it back Wednesday? That's impossible. I watch Discovery channel and Court TV and those big labs in California don't get it back that fast."

He does not deny leaving his handprint on the window of an apartment in September of 2003 where a 9-year old girl was assaulted, but explains it this way. "I wasn't on drugs real bad, but, I was on drugs for awhile and I robbed houses, so I was gonna rob that house, but, the neighbor upstairs came out and saw me. As soon as I saw him, I tripped and that's how my palm print. I had my gloves I my pocket and my print got on the outside of the window."

The two nights Graham was stopped walking first through a mobile home park and then his own apartment complex, he says he wasn't searching for a victim, but taking a walk after getting off work from a nightclub. â€œHow stupid would that've been to have been peeping in windows and gonna rape somebody behind a building with cameras? I was just going for a walk. He took my information, didn't even search me and let me go, he believed me."

And the video tapes and computer pictures police say they found in Graham's apartment. â€œIf they're saying it's on that computer, I bought that computer used seven years ago, hasn't worked in six years. It's just been sitting there. If I knew there was child porn on there, I was contacted two and a half weeks ago, why would I have left it on there, I'm not that stupid."

Graham told us he plans to plead not guilty but still believes he'll spend the rest of his life in prison for these crimes because he cannot afford to hire a private attorney.

Graham told me he believes Tulsa Police made an arrest in this case to take attention away from the police chief being put on leave and the problems with the SWAT team.

Of course, it is not our intent to upset the victims by airing this interview, we simply want to tell both sides of this story, and frankly Tulsa Police are interested in what Graham has to say, since he invoked his right to silence and refused to answer their questions.

The Tulsa County District Attorney's office has reviewed the case file and all the evidence and felt strongly enough in it to file 36 charges against Graham late Monday afternoon.

We contacted Tulsa Police after Lori's interview with Graham. We asked them if they wanted to respond to any of the things Graham said.

Tulsa Police Sgt. Gary Stansill with Tulsaâ€™s Sex Crimes Unit: "We are not going to respond to anything he says, no matter how absurd it is. We will do our talking in court."

Tulsa Police say the evidence will speak for itself, at the proper time, in the proper channels.

The DA's office says charges filed in district court include one count of first degree rape, four counts of first degree rape by instrumentation, four counts of second degree rape by instrumentation, two counts of attempted rape, eight counts of lewd molestation, one count of kidnapping, one count of attempted kidnapping, two counts of forcible sodomy, one count of sexual battery, nine counts of first degree burglary, two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of peeping tom.

Graham remains in the Tulsa County jail.